"The Land of the Living" (Part 3)

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:6-14 NIV).

The “empty words” that the apostle warned his readers about come in many forms. Today I want to look at a general understanding as we follow the Lord. Remember that some of these concepts were brought into clarity for me by my recent experience with back surgery. I won’t share a lot of the details of the experience, but suffice it to say that I have had lots of advice on how best to recuperate! Some of it has been good, some not so good. I have found the key is in measuring it all by the standard of the doctor’s orders.

Yesterday I wrote that guilt and shame were two of those empty words for children of God. I want to emphasize that I am not saying that the Christian does not sin. Clearly the bible tells us differently. What I am saying is that our sin has been atoned for in the work of Christ and grace is available for all in Christ. Let’s deal with the shame. Satan loves to keep us in our past looking at ourselves. If we continue to think about our past failures, it will wear us down spiritually, and the next thing the enemy aims at is getting the picture of ourselves distorted. He wants us to look at our past failures so much that we begin to see ourselves as failures! Anybody who has been thinking about their past sins for long will begin to see themselves as dirty sinners and failures. The complete opposite of what they really are under the new station God has granted in salvation. We are not failures because Christ has not failed.

Shame and guilt are based upon deception. These are empty words which are the opposite of truth. You need to stop thinking about your past failures. Are you ignoring them? No! You are ignoring a lie, not the sin, because the sin has been dealt with and washed away. Therefore, you are meditating on something that no longer exists! If your sins are in the depths of the sea, then why are you still thinking about them? You need to stop focusing on the problem (which has been dealt with), and begin to praise God for the solution to the problem, and think about how you have been washed clean from those failures! Instead of meditating on a lie, begin to meditate on the truth in God's Word concerning your past failures.